AbbVie (ABBV.US) partners with Xilio to jointly develop a new type of tumor-activating immunotherapy.

AbbVie (ABBV.US) and Xilio Therapeutics announced today that they have reached a collaboration and selective licensing agreement to jointly develop a new type of tumor-activating, antibody-based immunotherapy utilizing Xilio's proprietary technology, including masked T cell engagers. Xilio is advancing a series of fully internally developed masked T cell engagers molecules through its proprietary and clinically validated tumor-activating platform, which possess conditional half-life modulation capabilities aimed at achieving potent local T cell activation and tumor cell destruction, while minimizing systemic adverse events and improving therapeutic index. These projects include dual-specificity molecules designed using Xilio's advanced tumor-activating cell engager (ATACR) platform, which are composed of T cell engagers with a masked CD3 targeting domain; as well as three-specificity molecules designed using Xilio's selective effector-enhancing cell engager (SEECR) platform. SEECR molecules add co-stimulatory signals on top of ATACR to further enhance efficacy and T cell activation. Currently, Xilio is advancing three fully internally developed preclinical projects targeting tumor-associated antigens PSMA, CLDN18.2, and STEAP1 with masked T cell engager molecules.